I only came-up with two ideas for this round. One would definitely fulfill the theme, but I would have ended-up with a miniature that did not make sense on its own and probably would not have had the time to finish it for the contest.

This is my other idea. This is a magic-user casting a Darkness spell (old-school, area-of-effect). Aaron is "painting" everything in a 15 foot radius black (the absence of all color). I think that this covers the theme, but I will have to wait for the judges results to know for sure, as I was surprised by the results in round 1 (except for the most insightful and wise Skya who understood how well my entry fit the theme :) ). Some other items (shoes, belts, book, etc.) were painted in different "shades" of black to add to the theme.

If nothing else can be said about this entry, I believe that this is the first time someone has tried painting such an effect. Plenty of people try OSL, but how many try anti-light? Remember you saw it here first! :)

I wasn't really sure what it should look like, so I was trying for a magical force forming that was expanding and pulling-in light. I thought this was an interesting take on this miniature, as it is obviously sculpted for the opposite effect (casting a spell that produces light).

I would have liked to have added freehand, but the sculpt did not seem to lend itself to that, and I ran out of time for the contest.

Overall, I am very happy with how this miniature turned-out.

I used a Kerr & King KK-118 30mm Dia. Celtic Fantasy Base to base this miniature.

I entered this miniature into Connecticon 2009's miniature painting contest. It won 1st place